The problem with many interpretations rose because many interpreters failed to see what "beast" fully meant. They implied only one meaning or an either or, yet ignoring that in all Scripture the "beast" has been written in both contexts being a man, also an empire, and man-with-empire (Kingdom & King). In Daniel we see it clearly:
"These great BEASTS are four in number ARE four KINGS who WILL arise from the
earth". Here Beasts are kings.
Mountains/Heads/Kings are also symbols of beasts, kings and kingdoms:
"Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Here the seven heads are seven mountains (verse 9) AND THEY ARE seven kings. So, the heads are Mountains (kingdoms/empires) and kings (seven kings). Now verse 10: "AND THEY ARE (the seven heads, mountains, empires/kingdoms and kings) seven kings, FIVE HAVE FALLEN, one IS, the OTHER has NOT YET COME, he must remain a little while". The usage of AND THEY ARE" is significant since this combines
all of them together. The BIBLE clearly is the authority and it gives the interpretation already.
Also they are FALLEN IN THE PAST. What KINGS have FALLEN IN THE PAST when John
wrote Revelation? Jeremiah also confirms that a Mountain is an Empire, as he addressed end-times Mystery Babylon:
"And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion in your sight," says the LORD. "Behold, I am against you, O destroying MOUNTAIN, Who destroys all the earth," says the LORD. "And I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain. They shall not take from you a stone for a corner nor a stone for a foundation, but you shall be desolate forever," says the LORD.
(Jer.51:25,26)
He calls Babylon a mountain. It can be clearly seen from these scriptures that mountains, prophetically speaking, refer to kingdoms/empires. With this in mind, let us take a close look at what John is actually saying:
"So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven MOUNTAINS on which the woman sits. (Revelation 17: 3, 9).
The seven Mountains here ties with the 10 kings. So the angel is clearly referring to seven kingdoms that occur over a span of time: past, present and future. At the time the angel was speaking this to John, he says that five of the kingdoms had "fallen". These are kingdoms that had arisen and fallen before Johns time. The angel says that one is. In other words, the sixth kingdom the angel is referring to is in power in Johns time, even as the angel is saying this to John. Then the angel says "the other has not yet come", telling John that the 7th kingdom is a future kingdom.
Finally, the angel directly addresses the identity and kingdom ancestry of the last-days Beast power. The angel says that the seventh "is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven". What does this mean?
The first empire to control the Middle East was the Old Babylonian Empire.
The second empire to control the Middle East was the Assyrian Empire.
The third empire to control the Middle East was the New Babylonian Empire.
The fourth empire to control the Middle East was the Persian Empire.
The fifth empire to control the area of the Middle East was the Grecian Empire.
These five empires are the "five (that) have fallen" at the time of John.
The sixth empire to control the area of the Middle East was the Roman Empire (as clearly identified by the angel in Revelation), which during Johns time (approximately 100 A.D.) was at the height of its power.
The seventh empire to control the area of the Middle East was the Arab Muslim Empire which the angel told John, "the other has not yet come".
Yet, Scripture even offers an interpretation. With all this in mind, let us take another look at Revelation 17:7-11:
But the angel said to me, "Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Here is the
mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.
The beast the woman rides is all the Empires past, present, and future. The Seventh empire is the Muslim Empire.
Ezekiel 38 could very well include Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Chechneya, Azerbezian, Girgistan, Uzbekstan, Turkmenstan, Bosnia, and Psalm 83 which is a continuation of the Arab Israeli wars could include Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Iraq. Psalm 83 started in the Arab-Israeli wars and is not completed, since verse 18: Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD - that you alone are the Most High over all the earth has not been fulfilled.
ROME NEVER FELL?
ARGUMENT: But the Holy Roman Empire never ceased to exist.
I could already hear the critiques that ROME NEVER FELL." Is that true? The Western Roman Empire died in 410 A.D. when the barbarians sacked the city of Rome. Zeno safely held the Roman imperial throne at Constantinople. Yes, Constantinople, is a city a thousand miles East of Rome, which is now known as Istanbul.
You must also realize that the Roman world was not centered in the Italian peninsula. The Roman Empire was built on the Hellenic culture of the eastern Mediterranean. Daniel's prophecy does not at all speak about the Roman power which overcame Greece and conquered much of the pagan world. The Roman Legions left no ethnic marks upon the lands of Nebuchadnezzar's first dominion such as Greece did. But the Grecian influence within the nation of Israel worked its leaven to the point where even the Holy Scriptures which contain the "good news were caused to be written in the language of the Greeks. Is it not obvious that the New Testament Scriptures, like the LXX translation of the Old Testament documents were written in Greek and not in Latin - to say nothing of the other Greek customs or traditions which influenced the east.
The Hellenic culture had its origins in the region of the Hellespont, in the eastern Balkans on the Sea of Marmara. Constantinople stands on the shore of that sea. It remained the imperial Fortress City of the Christianized Roman world for a thousand years. Rome moved eastward, not westward. This is very important for understanding end times prophecy. Eventually, the Ottoman Turks held the throne of the Caliph. The Ottomans were able to build an army of a
quarter of a million warriors. This army finally breached the walls of Constantinople and captured the city in 1453 A.D. and by that it ENDED the Roman Empire. The Bible MUST agree with history and history MUST agree with the Bible.
The Ottoman Empire at its zenith extended from Venice and the borders of Germany to Persia and from Poland to the north of Africa, from Egypt to Morocco. This is no small time, they even took the holy land. This conquest marks the death of the true imperial throne of Rome. Its scepter was broken forever. The sixth king was finally slain one thousand years later than most western historians-and students of prophecy-realize.
And it was slain by an entirely different king than they realize. It should be obvious though. It was slain by the throne that had taken the Promised Land centuries earlier. The drying-up of the Islamic Turkish Empire and the decline of Mohammedanism has been the progress of the Zionist Movement when Israel was created. The beast finally had to get a great wound in order for the Jews to come back to the land as prophesied in the Bible long ago. The Islamic Empire ruled the east until 1918 when the Ottoman Empire fell against the British Empire.
This issue is critical for a clear and right understanding of end-times prophecy. Without it, your expectations will be misplaced and you will not be able to see the prophetic events that are occurring right now before your eyes. You will be blinded by looking for events that will never happen.
Do you understand how no other king could have fulfilled the prophecy of the seventh king? It has to be the Islamic Caliphate which started in the Hashemite Dynasty and ending in the Ottoman Empire.
This seventh king continued to hold the Promised Land until the last year of World War I. Lets not forget that a Hashemite Dynasty STILL hold control over the Temple Mount. King Abdullah of Jordan is a descendant of Muhammad. It is still called the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Yet, an eighth king must come from the seventh. How is this possible, unless it's one of the same, Islamic.